People may have to work into their 70s

London: British people face having to work into their 70s before they receive their State pension, an official watchdog warned on Saturday.

David Norgrove, chairman of The Pensions Regulator, said plans to raise the retirement age to 68 were not enough. The funding of state pensions would become an increasingly sensitive issue, he added.

The state pension retirement age is 60 for women and 65 for men but under existing plans it is scheduled to rise to 68 for both sexes by 2046. Norgrove, whose organisation was set up to oversee occupational pensions schemes, warned people would "undoubtedly" have to work for even longer then they anticipate.

"Given recent legislation is increasing the retirement age progressively to 68... I think it will end up higher than that.

"People are going to have to work longer. We, as a nation, are not going to save as much for retirement as we did in the past."

In an interview with the BBC, Norgrove hit out at the public's lack of knowledge about how to save.

"The evidence is that people generally are frightened of saving for pensions. They think that pensions are very complicated. Actually, pensions in many ways are quite simple. Once you've made the initial decision you can let it run."

He warned that the ability of people in work to pay for those who had retired would be a real issue for the next 30 years.